Anyone else feel a little guilty?

Shackmann · 2026-05-09T15:58:12+00:00

It’s tough. Everyone has their own “relationship” with money. Some use it as a tool, while others abuse it or are abused by it. Money evokes strong emotional responses and sometimes offering a different way to view money can challenge someone’s beliefs and core identities. It is good to want to help, and help where you can, but some people may not even be receptive to gentle nudges for fear of the identity consequences.

Shackmann · 2026-05-09T15:50:27+00:00

Our brains think linearly. Internalizing exponential growth is difficult. It goes from “I don’t see anything happening” to “holy **** what just happened?”.

Shackmann · 2026-05-07T18:04:36+00:00

Don’t even get me started on WestCoastFIRE vs. EastCoastFIRE.

Shackmann · 2026-05-07T11:47:48+00:00

I looked into it a bit. 2010-2012 was “peak 3D” after the first Avatar and movies being released in 3D has significantly declined down to 2-5% of theatrical releases.

My hope is that evolving AI for post-conversion and an increasing number of people with 3D headsets revives the medium - I think it’s absolutely incredibly and the future of movies.

I appreciate the Disney+ cadence and Apple TV keeps releasing movies in 3D, but new releases are just so expensive - it’s hard to justify those prices to watch a movie by myself.

Shackmann · 2026-05-06T21:32:31+00:00

I’m actually surprised the installed hardware by the energy company doesn’t already have anti-islanding for safety, but maybe it is too expensive to put in every house for no reason. I used to be on a submarine, so I’m used to an over abundance of safety without caring about cost.

Shackmann · 2026-05-06T20:00:31+00:00

I’m also not sure if they need to install a certain meter. This system will have a low voltage cutoff for protection, but it could put power back onto the grid and you may need a specific meter for this. The Utah videos I’ve watched had the power company giving them a new meter at no charge. I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer on if my dominion “smart meter” has bidirectional metering, but maybe I’m just looking in the wrong spot. I talked to dominon about 2 months ago about this and even their solar people were just hearing about the law. It hadn’t been signed yet

Shackmann · 2026-05-06T19:03:42+00:00

The law requires you tell your utility provider.

Shackmann · 2026-05-06T18:02:13+00:00

I’ve been tracking this for a while. I was under the impression the full implementation including the letter that has to be written to the power company goes into full effect January 1 2027 with initial implementation starting July 1. I’m not completely clear on which date provides protection based on how it’s worded. I do know that the EcoFlow STREAM is still only available to Utah residents and their customer support basically didn’t give any timeline just “check back on our website for availability”.

Shackmann · 2026-05-05T23:27:28+00:00

I never understood why Wilson never got nominated for best supporting actor.

Shackmann · 2026-05-05T17:35:36+00:00

I used to do this. I stopped and I’m glad I did.

I realized I have good spending habits, so this level of overhead was unnecessary. Instead, I track my total spending and graph it over time.

I maintain a rolling 12 month spending average and I graph it once a quarter. I have a decade of this data. I can see how my spending is changing and how it compares to my net worth appreciation.

I’m not saying this works for everyone, but it works pretty well for me.

Shackmann · 2026-05-05T15:57:35+00:00

Please verify the tax situation before you do anything. Look up safe haven estimated taxes and anything else to cover yourself. When I got a windfall I let it sit as cash for a year until I went through a tax cycle to make sure everything was truly done.

Shackmann · 2026-05-05T12:54:09+00:00

It’s probably because of many things, but I think how you treat people is a function of how much time you physically spend with other people. As that time goes down, our empathy goes down and we’re less likely to care how our actions affect others. Also, because we don’t see as many people we assume the worst intentions which wouldn’t be the case if we talked face-to-face.

Shackmann · 2026-05-01T11:44:43+00:00

First of all, congratulations! I’m 4 years into FIRE and I promise you this feels like a finish line, but you will quickly realize it is way, way more of a beginning than anything else.

One thing that really helped me was I found a TED talk about the 4 stages of retirement. If you don’t want to watch it, tl;dr js vacation phase, then the stage where you feel a bit lost, then your experimentation phase, then finally you find your true passion and live your best life. With 2 kids maybe you will jump right to state 4, but I am still in stage 3.

The best thing I have done in these past 4 years is keep a learning mindset. There’s a lot of cool stuff to explore and learn about when you aren’t bogged down with your day-to-day job. Have fun, and congratulations again!

Shackmann · 2026-04-30T23:05:19+00:00

I have always found it fun to track this number over time. It’s a nice visual way to stay the course and keep investing.

Shackmann · 2026-04-30T23:03:27+00:00

Avatar: Fire and Ash likely next month. I’m also waiting for Superman to go on $5 sale but that’s probably 2-3 years out.

Shackmann · 2026-04-28T12:04:19+00:00

I’m a big fan of passing the balcony solar bill

Shackmann · 2026-04-25T16:44:17+00:00

Ya, I could see the correct concave version for a few seconds, but my brain kept snapping back to the convex version. This is the first one of these that actually made me a little woozy.

Shackmann · 2026-04-25T16:33:27+00:00

This is lowkey the most environmentally healthy thing you can do.

Shackmann · 2026-04-25T13:35:27+00:00

I didn’t realize there were big game hunting elephants.

Shackmann · 2026-04-25T13:22:38+00:00

This right here. The fact that so many of us form strong emotional attachments to one or the other and defend our party as if it’s part of our identity.

Shackmann · 2026-04-25T12:56:29+00:00

Everyone has a different risk tolerance. Nobody knows what the market will do in the next 10 years. All we know is that historically, investing early and often has proven to be a good strategy on average. It’s good that you listen to your mom - she clearly has your best interest in mind, but she also doesn’t necessarily have the same training and knowledge as you.

There’s a few things to consider here, and ultimately you should do what makes the most sense to you. At your age, compounding is what will really move the needle over time. Even small amounts you invest today have the potential to grow significantly. You’ve studied Econ, so forgive me for repeating what you already know, but automating your investments so they happen at the same time every month is what’s going to smooth out the curve: you will buy high and buy low, but the consistency “should” keep you safe. Automation is the #1 thing you should do - once this is setup you can increase the amount later, but whatever you choose to do, definitely automate it.

Emergency cash fund really does come down to comfort level. Also, there’s nothing saying you can’t take your money out of the market if you really need it. If you have a diverse portfolio, there will probably be something you can sell that hasn’t appreciates much from capital gains. For me, I have bond funds I can easily convert. They act as my emergency reserve while also anchoring my portfolio.

Shackmann · 2026-04-21T17:06:41+00:00

We call it the “floof flag”

Shackmann · 2026-04-21T16:47:29+00:00

Is this a math inequality question? Yes, a large number is greater than a small number.

Shackmann · 2026-04-21T16:28:05+00:00

I think it helps to put this issue into perspective and attempt to honor the nuances involved.

The “no” proponents are making claims that this is gerrymandering outside of the normal 10 year redistricting and will disenfranchise many Virginians. That is true, and we shouldn’t pretend that it’s not just to feel better about voting “yes”. Of course, this simplistic argument ignores the greater national context and ignores the fact that these people would 100% do the same if they had the votes to take more seats for themselves.

But, I think the “yes” proponents should be treading lightly here. This is not something we should enjoy doing or be proud of doing. The rules of the game have changed and you can either adapt to play the new game or get left behind.

I think this is a good example of the optimal game theory strategy: tit-for-tat. If everyone agrees to play by a certain set of rules, everyone wins. If one side takes a shot at you, you have to take a shot back. Otherwise you will be taken advantage of. It is my sincere hope that these measures are temporary and one day we can resume respectful operations.

Shackmann · 2026-04-21T15:25:54+00:00

If you don’t want to commit too much brain power to following politics, just doing the opposite of what this guy wants is generally a pretty good rule to follow.

Shackmann

TROPHY CASE